< CLICK HERE to RETURN to 1910 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
< CLICK HERE to RETURN to LIST of BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES and TABLES of CONTENTS >
 

GEORGE B. HAMILTON.  One of the enterprising agriculturists of Shelby County, George B. Hamilton, whose excellent farm is situated in Oconee Township, was born on the old Hamilton homestead, situated near his present property, Nov. 12, 1809, a son of Washington and Lydia Ann (Bond) Hamilton.      Nathan Hamilton, the grandfather of George B., was born in Ireland, and came to America as a young man, being a pioneer of Shelby County.  His home was situated at the forks of Cold Creek and Possum Creek, in Oconee Township, about one mile southeast of the present farm of George B. Hamilton, and there he spent the remainder of his life.  He had two sons, Washington and Thomas, the latter of whom has been living in Okklahoma for the pat twenty-five years.      Washington Hamilton was born on the family homestead in Oconee Township, and when twenty-four or twenty-five years of age, was married to Lydia Ann Bond, daughter of Henry Bond, who came from Kentucky and settled two and one-half miles southeast of Pana, in Christian County, on the banks of Cold Creek, where he died four or five years ago.  After marriage, Mr. Hamilton engaged in cultivating his farm, and at his decease owned 240 acres; he died July 6, 1901.  His first wife had died four years previous to this time, and he had married a second time, his wife being Cynthia Pope, stepmother of James A. Pope, who still survives.  Of the ten children of Washington Hamilton and his first wife, four sons survive, and all reside in Oconee Township, namely: Nathan, George B., Charles B. and William K.  Although a Democrat in his political convictions and ever faithful to his party.  Mr. Hamilton never sought public office, although he served as School Director for four successive terms.  For years he was a Deacon in the Hopewell Baptist Church, of which he and his wife were charter members, and, with Mrs. I. N. Hitchcock, James A. Pope and Mrs. Louisiana Pope, he was one of the last four charter members of that church to survive.      George B. Hamilton was reared on the home farm, and was married, in his twentieth year, to Malinda S. Lowe, daughter of David and Rosanna Lowe; she had come to Illinois when three years old and to Oconee Township as a girl of sixteen years, being twenty-one eyars old at the time of her marriage to Mr. Hamilton.  The couple at once settled upon Mr. Hamilton's 120 acre farm, which he had purchased at %62 per acre, and he also bought one-third of his father's 240 acre farm, his brothers, George and Charles also purchasing eighty acres each.  Mr. Hamilton has devoted his entire life to his farm, and does general farming, in addition to cultivating about ten acres of apple trees.      The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton were as follows:  Claude, Lewis, Noah, Tony and Johnnie, all living; Harry, the oldest, who died in infancy, and Louise Ellen, who died Feb. 2, 1908, aged four years less sixteen days.  Mr. Hamilton has been a member of the Hopewell Baptist Church since his fourteenth year. Source:  Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Shelby County, Vol. II, Publ. 1910 - Page 887-888